Dear Parents and Guardians,

Newington spirit was on show in spades at the AAGPS Head of the River last Saturday at the Sydney International Rowing Centre. Thank you to all the parents who travelled to Penrith to cheer on the boys. Congratulations to our 1^st IV (Samson Hulks, Zak McGeechan, Mitchell Gigg, Christos Fotopoulos and c: Joshua Khu) and our 2^nd VIII (Ned Stevens, Oscar Lynch, Jake Williams, Luka Stefanovic, George Webster, Simon Latham, Nicolas Yule, Luke Harvey and cox Charlie Nicholas) who took third place in their events.

From Rowing to Rugby. A six-part documentary about the history of Rugby is being made ahead of the World Cup in Japan in September, and Newington was privileged this week to be part of it. The crew filmed our boys working hard at training, as well as footage around our grounds. The production also filmed an interview with Nick Farr-Jones, AM (ON 1979). It’s good timing for Newington: 2019 marks 150 years of Rugby at the College 

At assembly we awarded House Honour Colours to 29 boys, Duke of Edinburgh Silver to 5 boys and heard from Deputy Senior Prefect Ben Leung, who spoke to the boys about the Year 12 Motto ‘In White and Black, we’ve got your back’.  Please ask your son about Ben’s speech and the meaning of the motto.

On Friday evening the Newington Swimming team will head to SOPAC to compete in the AAGPS Swimming Carnival.  I wish all the competitors the very best of luck and thank the boys for the hours of training they have put in to be the best they can be on the night. 

Finally, as we move to winter sport on Saturday it is important that every boy in Years 7-12 has completed the HeadSmart pre-season baseline concussion test.

It is recommended that the boys do the test at home where there is no distraction. It will take about eight minutes.

There may be some students with special learning needs who would find the test difficult to comprehend. We would not expect them to complete the test.

If your son gets an invalid result, don’t be discouraged. Ask them to have a break and try again. If they continue to experience difficulties completing the test, please ask them to take their laptop and see Sister Bates in the Health Centre.

Enjoy the first weekend of winter sport.